ABSTRACT
Abraham Lincoln is said to grow his beard as a result of a letter from a twelve-year-old girl who wrote that if he would "cultivate whiskers" she would not only like him better but would try to persuade her two Democratic brothers to vote for him. Traditional societies may dictate the style of hair as part of a cultural type, as with the patriarchal beard. Social relationships hinge upon fitting the other into a category that makes it possible to deal with him successfully. This chapter considers social types in general before surveying those which serve as major role-models for American society. It also reviews some of the major services of social types under the following heads: role discrimination, defining and institutionalizing emergent roles, professionalization, providing individuals with self-images, control by status modification, and general contribution to consensus.
